FAST pre-crime unit is used to collect information such as gender, age, and ethnicity

Someone call Tom Cruise, because "Minority Report" is taking a leap from fiction to reality -- except the real version, which is currently being tested by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, doesn't depend on human psychics called precogs, but rather a screening facility with set algorithms.

This new "pre-crime" detection facility was discovered via a June 2010 DHS document that was acquired by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). The document states that information is currently collected and retained on "members of the public" as part of the pre-crime system, which is called Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST).

FAST is made up of algorithms that use factors including gender, age, ethnicity, heart rate, body movements, occupation, voice pitch changes, body heat fluctuations and breathing patterns to identify clues as to whether the individual(s) will commit a crime in the future.

The idea behind FAST is to prevent crimes from happening before individuals even have a chance to commit them based on the factors listed above. It is able to do this through the use of sensors that collect audio recordings, video images and psychophysiological measurements.

"The department's Science and Technology Directorate has conducted preliminary research in operational settings to determine the feasibility of using non-invasive physiological and behavioral sensor technology and observational techniques to detect signs of stress, which are often associated with intent to do harm," said Peter Boogaard, the deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. "The FAST program is only in the preliminary stages of research and there are no plans for acquiring or deploying this type of technology at this time."

According to FAST program manager Robert Middleton Jr., there is currently a trial for the FAST program where DHS employees are the guinea pigs. A certain group of employees can give permission to partake in a more "rigorous" part of the trial.

So far, a FAST field test has been launched in an unknown area in the northeast U.S. A new field trial is expected to involve the public, according to another DHS document obtained by EPIC. This other document states that members of the public with experience in food service will be asked to attend a one-day VIP event, where some individuals will be asked to act normally while others will be asked to act as if they're going to act with mal-intent. FAST will be left to determine the difference. It's unclear whether the participants realize they're in a FAST study.

The second document obtained by EPIC also states that FAST could be used at security checkpoints in the future such as border crossings and airports.

FAST has some worried about the accuracy of the system, and the consequences if it falsely targets a member of the public. Also, privacy is another worrisome factor with these sensors capturing images and audio recordings.

"If it were deployed against the public, it would be very problematic," said Ginger McCall, who said security checkpoints at places like the airport are already stressful enough due to handsy TSA employees.

I hate to tell you this, but BOTH DHS and the FBI are more than neck-deep in running guns to Mexican drug cartels under BATFE Operation Fast and Furious. And the FBI has even gotten rid of the THIRD gun found at the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, because it pointed back to one of their own.

One question comes to mind... if you know this how are you alive? I mean if I were them I would have made sure you were gone or at least were involved in a horrible, yet unavoidable, accident to silence you.

As much as I agree with your sentiment, at least one of those is sensationalist. The "ATF audio: Border agent was collateral damage" piece, specifically, leaves out a lot of very important details. The conversations in the piece are between a gun dealer, Howard, and an ATF agent. Howard followed the law and informed the ATF of potential (or downright obvious) straw purchases. The ATF told him to let them continue buying guns, and that they weren't letting the guns get into Mexico. After a while, Howard realized what was going on and tried to get his contacts with the ATF to incriminate themselves in these recorded conversations. Howard is the one who calls Terry (the slain border agent) "collateral damage", again to try to get the agent to trip up. The agent simply says "MMhmm", not really damning stuff there.

At any rate, this piece never mentions that Howard is essentially the "good guy" in this mess, trying to cover himself by getting the ATF to admit their wrongdoing. Of course CBS, being somewhat left-leaning, would never paint ANY gun dealer a "good guy". I for one think Howard is telling the truth and is genuinely a good guy. He didn't want these guns to end up in Mexico. He took the steps that he was supposed to to prevent it, but the ATF told him they were stopping the guns when in fact they were letting them walk. He had conerns about selling to these purchasers, but the ATF told him to keep selling to them.

The government claims that Fast and Furious was intended to somehow cripple the drug cartels. I really don't see how it would do that. I can see, however, the fallout (Terry's death) might sway people to support more gun control legislation, which is sad because this whole mess was the result of dealers being told to ignore the laws we already have. I believe that was the intent all along, though - to demonize gun dealers and make those weapons look evil in order to get tighter gun legislation pushed through. The real collateral damage is the Mexican people, in my opinion. I bet that for every US citizen killed by guns that the ATF told dealers to sell to straw purchasers and let walk, there are dozens if not hundreds of Mexicans killed by them as well. It's sickening, in my opinion.

quote: In all, 100 assault weapons acquired under Fast and Furious were transported 350 miles from Phoenix to El Paso, making that West Texas city a central hub for gun traffickers. Forty of the weapons made it across the border and into the arsenal of Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo

quote: also known as "the Jaguar," has been identified by U.S. authorities as the enforcer for Sinaloa cartel chieftain Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. The Fast and Furious weapons were found at one of Torres Marrufo's homes April 30 when Mexican police inspected the property. It was unoccupied but "showed signs of recent activity," they said.

The basement had been converted into a gym with a wall covered with built-in mirrors. Behind the mirrors they found a hidden room with the Fast and Furious weapons and dozens more, including an antiaircraft machine gun, a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher.